Hippo

Apple Chord was more than a few splinters of Applejack's personality. In part, it was all Applejack, but there were a few moments that her musical side split off and took control of the mare's body, and her tone and voice would go into a hyperactive version of the spontaneity Applejack's country living was known for. When talking about family and relationships, Apple Chord did not have to tread too far from Applejack's foundation, to the point where the mare herself wasn't sure who was talking. Listening to the voice coaching and instruction, Apple Chord could see that Coloratura was getting flustered slightly with Azure's banter. But it came to a climax where once they seemed finished, Coloratura was silient and full of blush. "Hey, family is family. Might be a little hard creating a family without a proper stallion to lift the heavy things around the house, but family comes in all shapes and sizes. It's all moot though, considering how busy I know you are right now." Apple Chord said in jest. Upon seeing Coloratura lose composure and declare needing to run out, Apple Chord interjected and questioned. "What? Ya'll are leavin' now? I thought we were just gettin' started?"

Silverstream attempted to pulled the goggles over her face, but the shape of her beak made it uncomfortable around her head. "I don't like these goggles, though. I'm gonna go upstairs and see if there are different sizes of goggles." As she started hovering up the cloudominium stairs she shouted, "Hey Zap Apple, can you find me a different pair of goggles?" Silverstream disappeared up the stairs and then poked back down at Gallus. "Oh. By the way, I found Zap, he was rummaging through Rainbow's Wonderbolt stuff this whole time." The hippogriff said matter-of-factly.

Zareb's initial reaction was giddy and lacked typical zebra composure. But he quickly exhaled a moment of maturity and humility to put his own thoughts into perspective, even audibly acknowledging the privilege it would be to converse with the heroines. "I can't imagine they would make time in their busy schedule for a foreigner zebra to ask them silly questions." Following Blueblood, Zareb began walking into the classroom and then stop in his tracks at the doorway. As Blueblood spoke about the typical setting and how the range of format would differ from room to room, Zareb had a trepidation in continuing to walk in, as if the hallowed ground of teaching was not to be disturbed, even if no creature was there. He was honored to see the room, but without knowing what classes he was in, he didn't consciously feel comfortable walking into rooms and browsing as if he is interested in purchasing. Zareb took a dramatic look at Blueblood. "This is incredible. It's a classroom. Mahali patakatifu, I mean we have rooms like this in Unyasi with less advanced design, but the feeling of the room's significance to the ones who share space in this room makes me feel humbled to step here."

Fluttershy loved weddings. Everypony was dressed in their best outfit, bachelors and bachelorettes were on their most inspirational moods, and the little ones were super cute and didn't necessarily know why. It was always a good time, celebrating the love two share for each other. However, Fluttershy's eagerness to join such gatherings were typically limited to the connections she feels familiar with. Twilight's coronation after-party? She is one of the Princess's best friends, of course she would be there. Applejack and Rainbow Dash getting married? She saw them almost every day between adventures in friendship and animal-related visits for Winona and Tank, so she would be there at the wedding. When Dr. Fauna host her niece's birthday at her animal clinic, Fluttershy was asked to attend so that she could help entertain the foal guests with fun animal friends. And why wouldn't she agree to that? Dr. Fauna had been a friend and partner in helping her achieve her dreams. Fluttershy loved attending gatherings involving her most important ponies in her life. It's not to say the ponies of the day at this new particular wedding weren't special. Of course they were--special to somepony, that is. But Fluttershy barely knew them. Her interactions with Blueblood were formal, but never delved deeper than the typical delegations and impressive charisma he and she is known for. As for the other side, Fluttershy didn't even know who they were. Were they from Ponyville? How long have they been around? How long had they been with Blueblood? Fluttershy had no idea. And because she had no idea about this relationship, she felt odd being apart of the gig. Discord had invited her to be his plus one. She couldn't say no, she knows how much Discord loves going to a crowd and attempting to steal the center of attention away from the bride and groom. But as she arrived, in her typical wedding guest gown, she nudged Discord as he was mingling with some of the usual wedding gang. "Um, Discord, are you sure it's okay for me to be here? I don't know the couple very well." To this point, the details of the wedding had not been described much to her, only that Discord wanted to go to another event, and maybe Fluttershy could be with him in order to keep him from getting too Discord-y. She hoped he would be on his best behavior and that a small, awkward chit chat by the punch bowl with a stranger would be the worst thing she would have to endure today.

While carefully monitoring the fish she was cooking, Gallus approached Silverstream with delight and eagerness in his face. She could tell right away he was happy about what she was developing. "Oh! You're up." Silverstream shyly expressed her meditations. "I got up before you, so I decided why not get something to eat before we start the day. I know you probably haven't had anything like this since you left Griffonstone. I haven't eaten it in a while either, but I tend to enjoy salads more than you do I think. I can tell by the look on your face in the school cafeteria." She giggled. She knew Gallus would love this, she just hoped that the fish she was cooking would also be good in comparison to the other times she tried to cook. She isn't the best at preparing meals, but she did manage to build an impromptu fire pit in the cave well enough. She held a stick with a fish on it out of the flames, and looked at it closely. "This one should be done." She offered it to Gallus to take, wondering if he would devour the thing really fast or if he would be afraid to touch it. It wasn't like they were doing anything illegal down here, but the feeling of partaking in prohibited meals seemed archaic after spending so much time in a pony town. At any rate, Silverstream would feel really awkward if any of her new pony friends were here, or even Yona! "And don't worry, these fish aren't from Seaquestria's regional drift. It's always a good idea to get fish from a different ocean community. That way, it prevents any amount of animosity, no matter how small, from the sea creatures that inhabit the area near us." She shrugged. "At least that's what Queen Novo always told us."

A few turns down the main school's hallway, Silverstream found herself rummaging through a janitor's closet. She only wanted to borrow an item for the evening and she would put it back, but she hadn't anticipated the closet to be so unorganized. "Blegh! How does anygriff know where stuff is?" She shifted buckets, soap bottles, mop heads, and broomsticks. Towards the back, she saw a clothing rack with a few janitor outfits hung on them. On them, a nameplate with 'Scruffy' was labeling the name of the one who apparently owned the attire and the rest of the closet for that matter. When she moved the clothes out of the way, she found a long water hose looped neatly and hung on the wall. She screeched for a fraction of a second and then grabbed it. She fell immediately from underestimating the weight of the hose, and then tried again, successfully carrying the hose while she flew out of the janitor's closet. She left the closet a mess, but that was because she planned on coming back to fix it when she would return the hose she took. A couple moments later, Silverstream flew up the stairs and arrived at Pinkie Pie's classroom. The door was unlocked, and she bolted to the back of the room. There she quickly found a contraption she had in mind, a machine that Pinkie Pie used to manufacture a continuous stream of bubbles. Silverstream remembered that day in class when the pink pony showed the class the magic of bubbles, but she could only really meditate on how such a device works in the first place. After tinkering with it a little bit, she was able to understand that the machine simply moves air. With a small modification, Silverstream would be able to use it for her project. With hose in one arm, and the bubble machine in the other, she slowing lifted herself up and made her way to the window. Instead of going back down the stairs, Silverstream decided to fly out of the window and slowly descend to the ground outside. It was conveniently located to where she needed to go next. However, as she fell gracefully out of the window, she dragged the hose too much, and the hose whipped around a little bit, spraying excess trapped water all over the window sill and the floor next to the window. Once she landed on the ground, she looked up at the window that was left open. She shrugged and decided to close it later. Dramatically, and only for a moment, Silverstream paused and asked to herself, "Wait, since when do we have a janitor named Scruffy?"

Remington followed after, sliding down with all his weight to his hooves. He could have flown down, but didn't. Once the two were on the ground, Remington took a look around. It was dark outside, with a few firefly lamps lighting up the empty pathways of the campus. Occasionally, you could hear murmurs or commotion from different neighboring buildings, it wasn't that late in the evening just yet. But no students or faculty were venturing in the courtyards. Seems the teaches provided plenty of homework for everycreature to work on. "It's really quiet. It's almost like we're not supposed to be out here." Remington wore a sly look, bouncing an eyebrow up to entice Moonlight to be entertained by the imaginary notion that they were doing something prohibited. Remington pointed into the direction opposite of Ponyville. "We should go this way. I've always wanted to go up the hill from campus to see what it's like up there. Is it just a boring foothill with the mouth of a waterfall, or is there a vast plateau with undiscovered marvels?" Remington took off into a light gallop in the direction of his adventure expecting his newly acquired fillyfriend to follow.

"Oh yes, Lets!" Fluttershy responded to Discord. She hadn't brought anything to the wedding to give to the newlyweds, but it was only because she was relived of that expectations when she bargained with the couple before the wedding as to what she would bring. She let them know that as part of as wedding gift, she would find a farm-appropriate pet animal in the near future, probably a puppy, that would help bring joy and togetherness in the newly formed family. She suspected that Zap Apple might be the main recipient of such an addition to the family. Fluttershy looked to Zap Apple who was now at her side. She had the responsibility of watching him for the remainder of the post-ceremony celebrations. "Stay with me, little Zap. Are you hungry? I think we're about to go into the reception area where all the food is. I can help you get something to eat." Zap was confused as to why all of this commotion was happening, but he liked the excitement of it regardless. For the time being, he would stay with Fluttershy who properly herded him like a sheep. "So, Discord. What did you get for them again?" Fluttershy asked. She knew Disord was always fond of giving magical gifts to ponies, but it was never completely clear if the gift was something useful for the ones receiving the gift, or if it was just another way Discord could amuse himself while perhaps entertaining others around him that enjoyed his level of chaos. "You always give the most interesting things to ponies," she said intending positivity.

While Gallus was returning to his raptor-like instincts for a short moment, Silverstream realized something that made her retreat. "Oh, no! We left the door to the cloudominium open again!" Silverstream retreated back upwards, leaving Gallus by himself during his failed attempt at finding Zap. Silverstream flew back into the cloudominium and closed the door behind her. But shortly after, she came out of the home again and screeched to Gallus. "Gallus! You gotta see this!" Once Gallus returned to the front parlor of the cloudominium, he could see Silverstream and what she was talking about.

"Well Zecora is known through many tribes, but I have never met her. Many of her stories are associated with the story of the six, which is also a widely believed legend. Most zebras know of the major Equestrian stories, though there are some who doubt their truth, ni ngumu kuamini. There was once a fable of Equestrian heroines defeating the changelings to extinction, but eventually it was realized it was a myth, after the great transformation gave way for changelings to explore their world outside of their nests." Much like the castle, Zareb was amazed at the décor and routine structure of the halls of the school. There were buildings like this his land, but they were not nearly as common. "I think I'd like to see the classrooms first. I have been trying to imagine how they might differ from the classrooms I'm familiar with." Zareb's experience in learning environments ranged from small village huts with students sitting in a circle around their teacher, to more elaborate rooms with furniture specifically designed to aid the teacher in helping students discover new things.

updated 1/6/2021

Smolder was good at not making a big deal out of sensitive information. She was far more concerned about Gallus as a friend and seemed to not advance any teasing towards Silverstream about her affection for him. It's almost as if she had already known. Or maybe the dragon was numb to the idea of having any romantic feelings at all. Smolder seemed to have some heart for it inside of her, but most dragons from dragon realms did not seem to have a pulse for relationships. Bluebelle made good points about what might be best for Gallus. But what was more important to Silverstream is that she got a green light for inviting him to Mount Aris for the holiday. This was exciting. But would he say yes? Probably. He would say it in a very uninterested tone to hide his true feelings about not having to be alone or back in griffonstone, but he would agree. And Silverstream would do her best to make the griffon feel loved during a holiday, maybe the first holiday he's ever truly felt. Silverstream jumped up. "Great! I'll ask him then." Silverstream bounced in place a little bit while thinking, and then shrieked with excitement. "Haha!! I'll have to get two round trip tickets to Mount Aris instead of one." But then she fell pensive. "Gee, I hope my folks don't mind." ((this serves as a prologue to this story.))

As the vocal exercises continued, Apple Chord tried to follow suit. She wasn't familiar with Coloratura's daily routines, but when in Roam. Azure provided a little personality diversity in the room, as she contrasted Coloratura's composure with a little schoolyard-type conversation. It was then that Apple Chord wondered if Coloratura had any significant someponies in her life. For the short time that she, and Applejack, had known her, it was never obvious that the music star would even have the time to have any kind of relationship, especially one that might raise a family. From her point of view, it seemed Azure was the closest family she had. Along with the exercises, came the ugly but necessary bad news feed, reports from music labels making lowered agreements and lawsuit notices from old partners that wanted retribution. Very callus. Was this also part of the vocal exercises? Were listening to the toxic mail bag increase the range of Miss Coloratura? When Coloratura asked how she was doing with the exercises, Apple Chord stopped her best attempt to mimic whatever it was the music professionals were doing. "I don't know no," she coughs. "No Applejack, but little ol' Apple Chord is getting along just fine. I don't usually do these types of vocal exercises. I usually just let my throat croak a few times during the first verse. Helps make the song feel more authentic to whoever's listenin'." She was joking and serious. Should it be wise or funny, it could achieve both at the same time. "Say, you gettin' any mail from any secret admirers? I bet a popular gal like you gets single stallions stuffin' your inbox all the time."

Silverstream was unable to remove the color from her claw. She was hoping that later it might wear off, or that it came off with soap and water. She certainly hoped it didn't turn her tongue rainbow colored, but she was too distracted to ask for an outside view. Gallus began darting downward towards prey. Prey in this instance was the foal he was watching, but with no context, the activity seemed the same. Silverstream had never seen Gallus hunt before, and she wondered if this was what it was like. "Wait, where? On the ground?" Silverstream bolted after Gallus, attempting to streamline her wings for speed, but Gallus was faster than her.

"Ahh, Zecora! We hear so many stories about her adventures here. Does she do any teaching here?" Zareb was at the door, not sure if he should open it himself or wait for his guide to hit the bells and whistles that did everything for him. Zareb was gettting a taste of what it might be like during a long stay here in Ponyville, and he wondered how difficult it would be to be himself. He could see himself being comfortable as a zebra living among other creatures, but he also wondered if he could make more friends by toning down his tribal nature a little. For the time being, he was still getting a feel for the process of service. It seemed a lot of ponies were employeed to do whatever the headmare wanted. Was this going to be like living in a castle?

The confluence of Moonlight and Applejack's cohesion was intoxicating. It's how she knew Moonlight was a member of the family, or at least, that she spend so much time around the Apples that she could develop such a cohesion. And more to the ear of Applejack, it was pleasant to hear her cousin ask for forgiveness in terms of how much time she plans on spending with her extended family. Familial threats were always very profitable for Applejack. Worst case scenario you don't have to spend time with the ponies that don't like you! But Applejack was halted in her work as Moonlight changed her tone. She mentioned that Remington was not fond of apples, and it made Applejack snort primitively. However, as Moonlight continued her lackadaisical explanation of Remington's food preferences, it was clear that not only did she not really know, but she was using her answer to leverage a response from the farm pony. If it weren't for the obvious pauses in Moonlight's voice, maybe she would have been fooled, but she was really good at spotting liars, especially amongst those in the family. Luckily for Moonlight, she also identified this situation as nothing more than humorous shenanigans. Applejack stared in disbelief not at what Moonlight was saying, but how she was saying it. "Really?" Applejack smirked. "Well, I guess if he doesn't like apples, I might as well just call the whole thing off. Which also suggests that maybe you shouldn't even be friends with him. Don't want a member of mah family mingling with the likes of ponies who don't know anything about fruits." Applejack leaned forward into Moonlight who was doing a poor job of whatever apple chore she was doing. "It's a good thing you know a thing or two about fruits though, dontcha Moonlight? Like the difference between those two apples over there." Applejack pointed towards two bushels of apples, both identical in color, size, and texture. "Right, Moonlight?"

"Tell ya what?" Zap began to bargain, as if his decrees meant anything. Although more than a nopony, he would forever be under the jurisdiction of his mother as long as he was on this farm, and most times even if he was off of it. "If'n you let me stay the night and serve me a heap of a warm meal, I'll give you the smooch you request." He looked around to see nopony else to witness what he considered a very private conversation. He walked around the counter towards her and stuck a hoof out. "Deal?"

Silverstream kept a half-lidded eye on Gallus' reclined position until it seemed he was out, and eventually fell asleep herself, with the echoing sound of waves crashing behind her. It made sense for Gallus to be tired, with all the imaginary muscle cramps he might be having. It's what happens when seaponies or hippogriffs transform into their counterpart for the first time in a long time, and it's one of the habitual natures of the society at Mount Aris and Seaquestria that kept the cultures divided. Fortunately, there were still plenty of amphibiously curious citizens that got plenty of both worlds to taste. The coastal cavern began lighting up with the sun that reflected its way in. The sounds of waves crashing all night continued into the daybreak, along with the added outside sounds of seagulls squawking for their day's first meal. Added even more was the sound of faint crackling, spontaneous and with less pattern than the ocean's repetition. What was originally a dark damp cavern was now filling up with the smells of firewood and cooked flesh of fish. Within sight of Gallus, Silverstream had set a campfire on a dry patch of flat cavern floor. She was slow roasting six mackerel fishes on wooden sticks over the flame, the sticks being propped up by large rocks.

((This is a continuation from here.)) The evening had prevailed well, so far. Remington and Moonlight were both in agreement. Each of them was just attracted enough to each other that they both really enjoyed each other's company. It felt too perfect, maybe with too little resistance, and the challenges Remington would face in his composure would test his colthood for the future. But it would be fun, nothing was more enjoyable than exploring the wits and whims of a filly he had just fallen in love with. And with Moonlight's permission, he seemed ready to go to places he had never been before. Remington giggled at the insinuation of the magazines being geeky. "No, no." Remington dropped his smile and looked more serious. He quickly shoved the box of goods down and out. "Listen, let's not worry about this. And, let's not study right now. We can study later." Remington approaches Moonlight and kisses her, a way of returning the kiss she had just surprised him with. "Do you wanna," Remington looked out the lone window in the dorm room. "Do you want to get out of here? Let's get out of here. Let's do something!" Remington quickly opened a few dresser drawers and started tying up spare pillow cases and shirts he thought he would wear but never did. After a makeshift bedroom rope was crafted, he threw open the window and tossed it down towards the ground. He then tied the upper end to a bed post. While testing the strength of the rope, he wore a slick smile and looked at Moonlight. "What do you say, Moony? Wanna go on an adventure?"

The anxiety slowly drifted away from the conversation as Silverstream listened after she revealed Gallus was the one she was most interested in. She found the implication of a possible romance between her and Gallus being one of diplomatic importance rather peculiar, however. She didn't much like the idea of falling in love with somecreature else for any other reason than the reason itself. The headmare seemed to have an eye for efficiency when it came to coordinating royal relationships, though. Perhaps she forget she was talking to students during recess. "I don't know. Whenever I ask him about home, he is very dismissive about it. It's almost like he never wants to return." Since the name was now out, she decided to ask the others if it would be appropriate for her to ask Gallus something she had an idea for ever since last Hearth's Warming break. "Do you think it would be wrong if I invited Gallus to Seaquestria for the holiday? He seems to have no interest in going back to Griffonstone, but is that a good thing if he disconnects himself from his ancestry?" Silverstream was asking deep questions. One that maybe could only be properly answered with Gallus involved. But because she thought about him a lot, this was the kind of curiosity that always hung on her mind. That, and why sinks always seem to drain counterclockwise.

Zap squeed nonsense as he was given permission to open presents. He made no haste. He darted right for the first present given to him and attempted to open it. The contents of the small box was a leather color, black in color with a shiny5 medallion tied to it. He was confused. "Uh, was this supposed to be Winona's present?" When Zap looked up, he saw a small puppy running towards him. The colt gasped. His reaction was still confusion but slowly comprehended the situation. The puppy approached him eagerly, sniffing the box he was holding, and then licked his face a couple times. "Is... is this, a puppy... for me!?" Zap's look of disbelief turned to an ear to ear smile. "You got me a puppy!" Zap jumped in place, the puppy's expression matching his enthusiasm despite not knowing what was so exciting. The dog barked a couple times, and ran around the room to explore the place he was now allowed to walk freely in. Zap laid down after jumping a few times, and the puppy ran to his side and commenced licking him. Once Zap recovered from the puppy onslaught, he poked his head up and asked his mothers. "Can I name him!?"

Zap did not answer the rhetorical question coming from his rainbow-maned mother. Of course he was having fun. And sometimes he had no idea why. The anticipation of the evening was enough to excite even the most hyper of foals. "I can't wait to open presents!" Even though the Apple family tradition had been to open presents on Hearth's Warming, Zap always found himself so excited to open presents that he contained no timetable for when he was allowed to. This year, he had an interesting distraction that kept him from getting overly excited for his own receiving of gifts. "And Amby can't wait either!" When Apple Bloom walked in carrying several boxes with colorful wrapping and bows, Zap could not contain himself. He hopped over by Apple Bloom and started inspecting the loot. At one point, his aunt asked him if he wanted to set gifts out to everypony. He jumped but then paused. "But wait, we don't open presents until tomorrow right?" Zap wasn't going to argue, but it was a bit of a left turn for what seemed to be the norm. When Zap saw Amby chewing on a box, he lifted in from her. "No no, little sis. We don't eat the boxes, we open them to see what's inside." He then turned to his mothers. "Tonight!?"

Zareb was concerned that the housing situation might not be fair to some other student that didn't operate from the same outside perspective that he felt he was being catered for. "I'm not pushing anyone out am I? I could easily live in the woods if it meant more students could live inside the building." He assumed ponies would not have as much desire to live in and around trees as him, and he was probably right about that, if the things he had heard could be believed. If Zareb had known this unicorn long enough, the past few minutes with him had given him the vibe that the answer would simple be that his selfless desire to live in the woods would not be necessary, but it only made him ponder what his potential roommate was like. Would this pony be okay with a zebra as a roommate, or would he struggle with sharing space with somepony that either resented or feared him. "I also know a lot of ponies don't particularly like my kind. Is that still the case?" Zareb walked up to the front door as he stated his question.

It's not too surprising the way Moonlight described Remington and her ability to manipulate him, when you understand she spent a great deal of time with Rarity in the department of flashy presentation and modern mare mentalities. Applejack could yet again begin to lecture Moonlight on the consequences of such actions, but being as she had already preached to her a little bit, and because this was young innocent schoolyard affection, it seemed more appropriate that Applejack keep it to herself for the time being. As she listened to Moonlight's rambling, she got an idea as to how she could better tap into the young stallion, saying it at the same time Moonlight did. "He can come over for dinner!?" She asked it as a question, but then immediately answered the implication. "Of course he can come over for dinner. If for no other reason, but so that you can come to dinner again. You don't do it nearly as often as you used to." Applejack winked back to her. "So what kind of food does he like? He does like apples right?" She chuckled the deal-breaking question.

"Auntie AB? Are you okay?" Zap took immediate notice at how tired she was, and he thought he was exhausted. But the attention was brought back to him as she noted how proud of him she was. Nothing interrupts a medical need for a pony more than giving Zap relentless amounts of praise and acknowledgement. It's too bad he didn't exactly feel the same. He felt a little defeated. "Well, I basically got last place. I might as well have not even tried." Then the colt remembered that his suggestion would be wise in a coltish sense. "Actually, yeah, I wasn't even in the race. What are you talking about, Auntie? I was on my way to do chores on the farm after I watched the end of the race." He hoped his cover story kept, and that Apple Bloom remained impaired enough to not remember him racing. If news got out that he had tried to run, he might have to wash dirty apples for a whole week... again.